Pattern for malware remediation – A last line of defence tool against Malware in the global communication platform

Malware is becoming a major problem to every organization that operates on the global communication platform. The malicious software programs are advancing in sophistication in many ways in order to defeat harden deployed defenses. When an organization’s defense fails to keep this malice invasion out, the organization would incur significant amount of risks and damages. Risks include data leakage, inability to operate and tarnished corporate image. Damages include compensation costs to customers and partners, service unavailability and loss of customers’ and partners’ confidence in the organization. This in turn will affect the organization’s business continuity. In order to manage the risks and damages induced by Malware incidents, incident responders are called upon to be the last line of defense against the digital onslaught assault. However incident responders are challenged too by the deep levels of knowledge, skills and experience required to contain the ever advancing and persistent Malware. This paper proposes the establishment of a Pattern template for Malware Remediation to aid incident responders to overcome their competency limitations in order to provide organizations the tool to repel Malware and to reduce the associated risks. Examples and details of the proposed patters are provided with discussions on future direction of the research work

Rough cut tool path planning for B-spline surfaces using convex hull boxes

The objective of this paper is to present a non-uniform layered rough cut plan for B-spline surfaces using convex hull boxes. The tool path plan generated by this method will rapidly remove most redundant material from stock material without overcutting. First, a B-spline surface is decomposed into piecewise Bezier surfaces, of which the convex hull boxes form an approximate model for rough cutting. Then, according to the top planes of those convex hull boxes, the stock material is divided into layers of different thickness. The cavity contour for each layer is obtained using a simplified union Boolean operation on convex hull boxes. Finally, from the top down, each layer is processed like a 2D pocket die cavity. The algorithm is implemented on a personal computer. It is shown that the rough cut plan is very efficient since no computation for solving nonlinear equations is needed, and no overcutting occurs since B-spline surfaces are protected by the convex hull property of Bezier surfaces

An offensive containment strategy based on Malware's attack patterns

Malware has become a major problem to organizations and they are becoming more sophisticated in many ways. They have abilities to penetrate through deployed defensive measures and stay active while resisting containment responses. Malware are also evading and attacking the defenses put up by organizations. The classical containment techniques to contain a successful infiltration of Malware have limited effectiveness against the determined and resilient malice. This paper advocates using the offensive techniques typically used by Malware to disable them as part of the containment response. In this paper, two experiments involving the application of offensive techniques on different Malware are presented. One of which involves a smartphone Malware. The result of this experiments demonstrate applicability of such techniques as part of containment response

From Network Structure to Dynamics and Back Again: Relating dynamical stability and connection topology in biological complex systems

The recent discovery of universal principles underlying many complex networks occurring across a wide range of length scales in the biological world has spurred physicists in trying to understand such features using techniques from statistical physics and non-linear dynamics. In this paper, we look at a few examples of biological networks to see how similar questions can come up in very different contexts. We review some of our recent work that looks at how network structure (e.g., its connection topology) can dictate the nature of its dynamics, and conversely, how dynamical considerations constrain the network structure. We also see how networks occurring in nature can evolve to modular configurations as a result of simultaneously trying to satisfy multiple structural and dynamical constraints. The resulting optimal networks possess hubs and have heterogeneous degree distribution similar to those seen in biological systems.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Proceedings of "Dynamics On and Of Complex Networks", ECSS'07 Satellite Workshop, Dresden, Oct 1-5, 200

An assessment of the strength of knots and splices used as eye terminations in a sailing environment

Research into knots, splices and other methods of forming an eye termination has been limited, despite the fact that they are essential and strongly affect the performance of a rope. The aim of this study was to carry out a comprehensive initial assessment of the breaking strength of eye terminations commonly used in a sailing environment, thereby providing direction for further work in the field. Supports for use in a regular tensile testing machine were specially developed to allow individual testing of each sample and a realistic spread of statistical data to be obtained. Over 180 break tests were carried out on four knots (the bowline, double bowline, figure-of-eight loop and perfection loop) and two splices (three-strand eye splice and braid-on-braid splice). The factors affecting their strength were investigated. A statistical approach to the analysis of the results was adopted. The type of knot was found to have a significant effect on the strength. This same effect was seen in both types of rope construction (three-strand and braid-on-braid). Conclusions were also drawn as to the effect of splice length, eye size, manufacturer and rope diameter on the breaking strength of splices. Areas of development and further investigation were identified

Weighted Assortative And Disassortative Networks Model

Real-world networks process structured connections since they have non-trivial vertex degree correlation and clustering. Here we propose a toy model of structure formation in real-world weighted network. In our model, a network evolves by topological growth as well as by weight change. In addition, we introduce the weighted assortativity coefficient, which generalizes the assortativity coefficient of a topological network, to measure the tendency of having a high-weighted link between two vertices of similar degrees. Network generated by our model exhibits scale-free behavior with a tunable exponent. Besides, a few non-trivial features found in real-world networks are reproduced by varying the parameter ruling the speed of weight evolution. Most importantly, by studying the weighted assortativity coefficient, we found that both topologically assortative and disassortative networks generated by our model are in fact weighted assortative.Comment: 8 pages, minor clarifications, to be published in Physica

Cat-scratch disease in veterinary-associated populations and in its cat reservoir in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the first human case of cat-scratch disease (CSD) was diagnosed by a serologic test in 1998. Since then, no studies have been conducted to understand the epidemiology of the infection in Taiwan. Therefore, this study is the first epidemiologic survey of CSD in cats and humans in this country. Using veterinary-associated individuals as the study population, it was identified that 1.7% of them were seropositive for B. henselae, and residence was the only factor associated with seropositivity. Bartonella species were successfully isolated from 25 (19.1%) of the 131 cats tested. Only B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae were obtained from bacteremic cats. Furthermore, 9.2% of 131 cats were dually-infected with genotypes I and II of B. henselae. It is the highest prevalence of co-infection that has ever been reported worldwide. In cats, the seroprevalence was 23.7% by indirect immunofluorescence antibody assay with B. henselae Houston-1 (type I) as the antigen. When 12 bacteremic but seronegative cats were re-tested by IFA slides coated with B. henselae U-4 antigen (type II), 9 cats were identified to be seropositive. Our study further suggested that using only direct PCR of 16S-23S rRNA intergenic region or the combination of the PCR method and indirect immuno-fluorescence test will be useful to diagnose Bartonella-free cats

Landau Transport equations in slave-boson mean-field theory of t-J model

In this paper we generalize slave-boson mean-field theory for $t-J$ model to the time-dependent regime, and derive transport equations for $t-J$ model, both in the normal and superconducting states. By eliminating the boson and constraint fields exactly in the equations of motion we obtain a set of transport equations for fermions which have the same form as Landau transport equations for normal Fermi liquid and Fermi liquid superconductor, respectively with all Landau parameters explicity given. Our theory can be viewed as a refined version of U(1) Gauge theory where all lattice effects are retained and strong correlation effects are reflected as strong Fermi-liquid interactions in the transport equation. Some experimental consequences are discussed.Comment: 19 page

Dynamics of quantum Hall stripes in double-quantum-well systems

The collective modes of stripes in double layer quantum Hall systems are computed using the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation. It is found that, when the system possesses spontaneous interlayer coherence, there are two gapless modes, one a phonon associated with broken translational invariance, the other a pseudospin-wave associated with a broken U(1) symmetry. For large layer separations the modes disperse weakly for wavevectors perpendicular to the stripe orientation, indicating the system becomes akin to an array of weakly coupled one-dimensional XY systems. At higher wavevectors the collective modes develop a roton minimum associated with a transition out of the coherent state with further increasing layer separation. A spin wave model of the system is developed, and it is shown that the collective modes may be described as those of a system with helimagnetic ordering.Comment: 16 pages including 7 postscript figure

Methods Used for Reconstruction in Aggressive Bone Tumours: An Early Experience

Improvements in the overall treatment of patients with aggressive, large tumours involving the bone have made it possible to preserve and salvage limbs instead of amputating them. Each patient is unique in his clinical presentation and social circumstance. The different reconstructive options available allow us to choose the most appropriate method suited to the particular patient and with minimal delay, even when resources are limited. The patient and the relatives actively participate in the choice. The early experience of the different techniques for reconstructing these bone defects at our hospital are presented in this paper